Publisher's Synopsis
In the Wake of Contact Biological Responses to Conquest ClarkSpencer Larsen and George R. Milner, Editors The ColumbianQuincentennial has sparked a new wave of research into the effectsof European expansionism on the indigenous peoples of the Americasand Pacific Islands. This volume offers an authoritative overviewof recent bioanthropological investigations of the demographic andepidemiologic consequences of the European influx, encompassingsuch areas as disease transmission, dietary changes, and culturalimpact. Each chapter in the book focuses on either a specificgeographic region or ethnic population. Assembling data fromarchaeological and skeletal evidence, the text provides a detailedaccount of the complex changes experienced by a population overtime. The book considers not only the direct effect of the arrivingEuropeans, but also examines how precontact developments within asociety dynamically affected the way it responded to conquest. Thisvolume explores such topics as:
* Late prehistoric and early historic diet in gulf coastFlorida
* Trade, contact, and female health in northeast Nebraska
* Historic epidemics of the American Pueblos
* The decline of the Chumash Indian population
* Biological effects of European contact on Easter Island
* An osteological assessment of health and disease in precontactand historic Hawaii
In the Wake of Contact: Biological Responses to Conquest is a textof major importance to the scientific study of the results of NewWorld/Old World contact. This work provides a compelling new lookat the age of conquest that will prove both fascinating andinsightful for anthropologists, archaeologists, and populationbiologists.
